


What Is This Feeling?

by BitterlyJittery



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22140766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BitterlyJittery/pseuds/BitterlyJittery
Summary: Roman seems to excel at annoying Logan every opportunity he gets. But while out on a completely accidental date, Logan has to ask himself: what if he was wrong about this… annoyance all along? What if this feeling was… something else entirely?
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, aka Logince
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58





	What Is This Feeling?

Logan descended the stairs into the living room, barely having time to say a quick greeting to his fellow roommates before being surprised-attacked by Patton jamming a navy blue santa hat onto his head.

“Merry twelfth day of Christmas, Logan!” he exclaimed cheerfully, ushering him over to sit with the rest of the group. Virgil was seated on the ground, leaning up against the couch and greeting Logan with a two fingered salute. Atop his head was a purple santa hat trimmed with black faux fur. Logan sat down next to Roman on the couch, who also donned a santa hat. His was red, but covered in sequins, which seemed appropriately… extra, that was the word.

“Patton, you do realize that the ‘twelve days of Christmas’ mentioned in the classic holiday song are in fact referring to Christmas Day and the days following it, not the days preceding it, correct?”

Patton’s smile remained as cheery as ever as he replied, “Nope! Guess we’re changing it up a little this year, huh?”

“Perhaps you’re changing it up,” Logan grumbled, “I never consented to being a part of-”

“We’re doing a roommate secret Santa!” Patton exclaimed, popping a party popper that he’d apparently been hiding in the brim of his own light blue santa hat. Roman and Virgil applauded with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Patton pulled out yet another Santa hat, a classic red one this time, from the space in between the couch cushions Roman and Logan had been sitting on. “I put our four names in this here hat, everyone’ll draw one, then get a gift for their person, then we’ll give them to each other a week from today, so the twentieth! That works for everyone, right?”

Virgil shrugged. “I gotta leave on the twenty-second, so that’s fine with me.”

“And I’m not going very far at all, my parents only live three hours away, so I’ll be here up until the day before Christmas Eve,” Roman informed the group.

Logan nodded. “That also works for me.”

“That’s great!” Patton plopped onto the ground, taking a seat next to Virgil and holding out the Santa hat. “Everyone pick one out!”

Logan leaned over and reached into the hat, his hand brushing Roman’s as he fished for a slip of paper.

Roman smirked at Logan as their hands touched. “Goodness, hands to yourself, super-Casanova.”

Logan immediately withdrew his hand from the hat, face flushed in annoyance at Roman’s terrible nickname. He heaved a sigh and shot him a glare, which sent Virgil snickering. He was thus greeted by a similar look.

Truely, Logan didn’t understand Roman. Sure, his other roommates could get on his nerves from time to time, but lately, this particular tanned roommate with the meticulously styled chestnut hair seemed to be making it a personal goal of his to push Logan’s buttons and make him feel… something. Aggravated, more than likely. The dumb nicknames, the cocky smirks, the way he’d distract Logan from his work- It was driving him crazy.

So of course, Logan unfolded his paper only to see the name Roman Prince written plain as day in Patton’s somewhat messy handwriting.

Had he not been a man of science, he would have sworn the universe hated him then and there.

“Alrighty, everyone got one?” Patton asked. They nodded, and Patton clasped his hands together, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. “Great! Now remember: don’t tell anybody else who you got, it’s called _secret_ santa for a reason!”

Great. Logan couldn’t even ask one of the others to help? Not that he required assistance, but Roman’s tastes could be-

“My lips are sealed, padre!” Roman promised, miming zipping his lips and throwing away the key. “No helping! Although I would just like to throw this out there, Hamilton is coming around rather soon, and I’m just saying, I would _not_ object getting tickets to that.”

… Rather fanciful and highly expensive.

Virgil raised his hand. “Yeah, is there a price limit for this?”

Patton shook his head. “There isn’t, because a gift isn’t about how much you spend!” He smiled, putting his hands over his chest. “It’s about giving something that comes from the heart.”

Virgil laughed through his nose. “Rip whoever gets Princey then.”

Roman let out a sound of offense, holding a hand to his heart. “Just because I have a taste for the finer things in life doesn’t mean I won’t accept a thoughtful gift!”

“Alright, let’s not fight,” Patton said, holding his hands out with a nervous smile. “It’s Christmas!”

“It’s December thirteenth,” said Logan.

“Close enough!”

Logan glanced over at Roman, who had quit bickering with Virgil and was now taking a festive selfie in his new santa hat.

Close enough indeed…

In fact, maybe too close.

***

Logan could not believe he had spent almost an entire week agonizing over what to get Roman Prince for Christmas. It was utterly ridiculous, the way he kept second-guessing his choices, hesitating and ultimately not purchasing items that would make perfectly serviceable gifts. He blamed Patton. All of this ‘giving something from the heart’ nonsense must have been going to his head, why else would he be so concerned about getting Roman something he was guaranteed to enjoy?

His lucky break came when he overheard a conversation between Patton and Roman the morning before the party.

Logan had woken up earlier than the others, as usual, and was chipping away at his piece of Crofter’s jellied toast and mug of coffee, as usual, while checking his email on his phone, as usual. Being on winter break was no excuse for him to fall out of his well-structured routine.

The others, however did not share this sentiment. Roman and Patton entered the kitchen just as Logan was finishing up, throwing out the paper towel he’d used to rest his toast on and taking one last swig of his coffee.

“Yeah. I really want to go there, but it’s kind of out of the way and probably pretty busy since it’s so new, so I haven’t gotten around to it,” Roman said to Patton as the latter nodded, opening up the cabinet and pulling out a box of lucky charms.

Logan froze mid-sip. Roman wanted to go somewhere? _Really_ wanted to? And he was telling Patton about it? Logan felt a twinge of… something in his stomach, but he really didn’t have time to focus on it at the moment. Of course they had to start talking about it before they entered the room; now he was going to have to inquire about it himself.

Logan swallowed the last of his coffee, placing his NASA mug by the sink. “What are you two talking about?”

Roman shrugged, opening the fridge. “Oh, just this new coffee shop that opened up downtown. Why?”

Logan did not deign to reply.

“And what’s the name of this coffee shop?”

“The Roasted Bean!” Patton piped up. “Oh, Roman, could you pass me the milk? Thank you!”

“Why the sudden interest? Normally you flee the kitchen as soon as we arrive, heaven forbid you might have to make small talk,” Roman laughed.

Logan rolled his eyes. “I am not afraid of conversation, you’re thinking of Virgil. I simply have a schedule to keep and normally have no time to dawdle-”

Roman barely held back a snort. “Dawdle?”

“Yes, to waste time, as I am currently doing with you by justifying my interest in the previous conversation.”

Roman held his hands up in mock surrender. “Fine, if this conversation’s wasting so much of your precious time, then you can go, I’m not stopping you!”

Patton’s eyebrows knit together in concern. “Guys-”

Logan didn’t humor Roman with a retort, simply exiting the room as he himself suggested.

That is, until he poked his head back in to tell Roman, “If I come back to find any of my Crofter’s gone, I will confiscate all your Disney Renaissance era princess films.”

A shout of protest could be heard from the kitchen as he walked away, but he didn’t stick around long enough to listen to the exact phrasing or details of it. Logan instead retired to his room, placing his glasses on his desk and burying his face in his hands with a sigh.

All this for the arrogant, dramatic, idiotic Roman Prince.

This was going to end _phenomenally._

***

For all intents and purposes, so far the party was going well. The four of them had dressed up in their most festive attire (which for Logan meant swapping out his blue tie and black polo for a blue scarf and black sweater), watched Christmas specials, and even baked and decorated cookies without any sort of spat, though things did get a little tense when Virgil accused Roman of hogging all the red frosting. It was, admittedly, going better than Logan had expected it to, which made him wonder why he was suddenly feeling nervous about giving Roman his gift. Sure, it wasn’t a material thing in and of itself, but it promised something material, which he figured should be enough to appease him.

Shouldn’t it?

He shook his head; he was overthinking it. It was just a gift after all, nothing more, nothing less.

Logan was promptly distracted from his inner monologue by Patton, who was sitting to his right in their circle on the floor.

“Awww, thank you Roman!” he squealed, clutching a light blue and grey quilt close to his chest.

Roman beamed at the thanks. “You’re very welcome! It took me a while to find the perfect fabric, so I had to rush just a tad to get it all stitched up in time, but in the end it turned out rather nicely, if I do say so myself!”

“It’s amazing, I love it!” Patton nearly tackled Roman in a bear hug, which surprised the latter, but he accepted it and hugged Patton back with a chuckle.

Patton wrapped the quilt around his shoulders, getting nice and cozy before turning to Logan with a bright smile. “Okay Logan, your turn to give a gift!”

Logan discretely took a deep breath to calm his entirely irrational nerves before turning to face Roman, who sat opposite him in the circle.

“I hope it will not disappoint you too terribly to learn that I do not have a physical gift for you. My gift to you is taking you to get drinks at The Roasted Bean tomorrow, likely during the late morning, if that works for you. I will pay for the expenses of the gas money and the drinks.”

Much to Logan’s relief, Roman was smiling - genuinely smiling, not smirking or grinning in a teasing manner. His cheeks were turning pink as well, that was a good sign, wasn’t it?

“You want to go… I mean, yes! Thank you! Sounds good!” Roman stammered.

Stammered? Roman wasn’t often one to stammer. Perhaps he… didn’t like it? Was he covering up his disappointment with false gratitude? 

“This is a suitable arrangement for you, is it not?” Logan asked, certainly not with a slight waver in his voice.

Roman nodded then elbowed Virgil, who was making some sort of face at him that Logan couldn’t see. 

“Yes, it sounds lovely!” he replied boisterously, seemingly back to his usual theatrics.

Logan held back a smile despite himself. Maybe gift-giving was more rewarding than he’d anticipated. Could the warmth in his chest at Roman’s smile be due to a possible increase of dopamine production when one gives something to another? He would have to look into that later.

But for the time being, he was content to let the admittedly pleasant feeling linger just a little bit longer.

***

On second thought, maybe that feeling wasn’t as pleasant as Logan had previously considered.

It had started out innocently enough at the party, which he was later able to identify as a dopamine increase, just as he’d expected. However, he’d woken up still feeling… off. He figured he’d be able to shake it once he’d fully woken up and began his normal morning routine, but irritatingly, it only increased the further along he got. Was he still nervous about the gift? Preposterous, it was already said and done, wasn’t it? Nothing left to fret over now.

That is… nothing but the outing itself. Which was equally as ridiculous, considering he saw Roman and drank coffee every morning.

Logan was so busy trying to sort through this puzzling dilemma of his that his body decided to run on autopilot without his consent, making its way down the stairs and into the kitchen, popping a slice of bread in the toaster as he muttered to himself. In fact, he was so lost in thought that he completely ignored Roman standing at the base of the stairs, waiting for him.

It took a flick on the back of the head and a loud, “Logaaaan… Earth to nerd!” for Logan to realize what he was doing and turn around.

He should not have turned around.

Behind him stood Roman, who was sporting something… a little different from his usual attire. Namely fishnets under ripped jeans and a red crop top with the words ‘a prince has got to slay’ embroidered on it in gold, loopy lettering. Roman was no stranger to makeup, but he’d apparently decided to go more full-out today, especially around the eyes, the warm, golden eyeshadow bringing out the warm, golden flecks in his eyes-

Logan shoved him out of his way, unsure of what else to do. His face felt warm, and the feeling in his chest and stomach was worse than it had ever been before. Instinctively, he continued his routine, power-walking to the fridge and making for the Crofter’s.

That is, until Roman grabbed his arm, spinning Logan back around to face him dear Newton why did he have to do that-

“Are you okay, Logan?” There was genuine concern in Roman’s eyes as he asked.

Logan managed a nod, his ever-reliable vocabulary having seemingly forsaken him in the moment.

“I… I apologize.” he pulled his arm out of Roman’s grasp, adjusting his tie. “I’m not sure what that was.”

Roman shrugged, his smile sympathetic. “It’s okay to be a little nervous, Lo.”

Lo? Was that a non-insulting nickname? That was new.

“I’m not nervous.” Was he?

Roman chuckled, then linked his arm with Logan.

What was…

“Alright, alright.” His eyes seemed to glitter as he smiled. Had they always done that? “Let us venture forth, then!” He began to exit the kitchen, leading Logan along for the ride.

“But- my toast-” Logan weakly protested, but Roman either didn’t hear him or didn’t care.

And strangely enough, Logan didn’t mind.

***

Actually, Logan had changed his mind.

This was unexplainably awful.

Unexplainably because in all honesty, the components making up this outing were not in and of themselves particularly horrendous. For example: Roman had hogged the aux cord and played exclusively musical theatre songs on the drive to the coffee shop, but Logan found himself actually enjoying a few of them, especially once he heard them sung in Roman’s rather… skilled voice. The drink Roman ordered had been a bit pricey, but this was his gift, and seeing him chat away whist unwittingly having a small bit of whipped cream on his nose was… humorous. Roman very much liked to talk, and talk, and talk, but Logan found himself listening all the same, borderline captivated by his… charismatic tendencies.

In theory, everything was going rather well.

Well, almost everything.

Frustratingly, the _feeling_ persisted, and it was only growing stronger.

Whenever Roman smiled at him, or laughed at a dry comment he made, or Tesla forbid, initiate physical contact, it became so bad that Logan could hardly think. His heart would race and his stomach would turn and it almost made him want to do something ridiculous, like smile or sigh or giggle-

Serious people did not giggle. Logan was always serious. He wore a necktie.

He tried to push the feeling away, lock it up for at least one simple conversation, but like a weed, it kept creeping back in, infesting his mind with a lightheaded airiness that was in no way conducive to logical thought.

Roman just kept on grinning like an idiot, talking away.

Or maybe…

Maybe that was the grin of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.

Roman couldn’t possibly be that dense, he must have been able to see how his words and actions were affecting Logan, he must be doing this on purpose!

Of course, just another convoluted way to mess with him. But if this was some sort of a joke, it wasn’t a very good one, because Roman’s eyes were shining like stars in the late morning sun, and his laugh was hypnotizing and his smile was brighter than anything else in the room and he was obviously trying to pull something and it was working because there was absolutely no logical reason as to why Logan suddenly wanted to grab him by his head and pull him across the table and kiss him-

Logan nearly dropped his cup.

Oh god.

He was in _love._

That’s what… that’s why…

Oh _god._

It was as if someone had flipped a switch in Logan’s dopamine-addled brain, making everything fall into place.

He was stupidly in love with stupid Roman Prince and they were on a _date._

Logan face was burning, no doubt turning a lovely shade of beet red as he hid his face in his hands.

Roman was saying something, but Logan’s head was still spinning and he wasn’t quite listening. He looked back up at Roman, interrupting him by asking,

“Is this a date?”

Roman looked just as surprised as Logan felt. He laughed nervously, his normally bold and brash demeanor melting away before Logan’s eyes. “I… sure hope so? Is… is it not?” He pressed his fingertips into his forehead, covering his eyes as a blush began to creep across his own cheeks. “Oh no, I completely misread the situation, didn’t I… I’m so sorry Logan, I should have at least asked before assuming-”

“I love you.” Logan blurted out. His hands no longer covered his face as he stared straight at Roman. “I think I love you more than I’d previously thought. In fact, I definitely love you more than I thought, because for a long time I thought I despised you, but the truth is I was too emotionally negligent to recognize what I was actually feeling at all so I instinctively labeled it as annoyance I think because that’s much easier to deal with than what I was really feeling which was and is-”

Logan was cut off by Roman’s lips crashing against his own.

And _wow._

Logan had no idea what he’d been missing.

“Get a room you two!” someone shouted. Maybe the barista. Logan didn’t really care. All he cared about in the moment was Roman, Roman’s lips and Roman’s cheeks and Roman’s hands and Roman’s eyes as he pulled back from the kiss, leaving Logan gasping for air.

“I love you too,” Roman whispered in his ear, and a star exploded inside Logan’s body.

Maybe this feeling wasn’t so bad after all.


End file.
